Your career identity, explained

If you’re expecting a change in your career, make sure you understand what a career identity is and why it’s important

It doesn’t happen all too often, but from time to time, someone on social media can really make you stop and think.

On a recent r/CareerGuidance Reddit thread, one Redditor casually asked: ‘Do you see your job as a small part of you or do you see it as your identity?”

Have you ever wondered this?

This person might not ever use these terms, but here’s what I think this user is asking: What is your career identity and how central is it to your personal identity?

You need to take time to think about your career identity.

Surprisingly, there’s a treasure trove of research studies on ‘career identity’ going back over 30 years that can help us answer this question.

But, before we jump into what career identity is specifically, it’s important to understand the psychology of ‘identity’ generally. This was a surprise to me, but according to the research, multiple identities can exist simultaneously: a personal identity and a career identity.

Before you get too excited, this isn’t like Tyler Durden in Fight Club.

Personal and career identities can coexist because your personal identity is ‘deep-structured.’ This is the technical name for the answer to the question: “who am I?”

A career identity is different. Your career identity is ‘situated,’ or the answer to the question: “what do I do?”

Career identity is the dynamic and situational answer to the question: “what do I do?”

Remember that difference, it will be important in just a moment.

There are ‘strong’ career identities, or when the answer to “what do I do?” is a person. For example, “I’m a doctor” or “I’m an engineer.” There are career identities that heavily overlap with an ‘organizational identity’ — or how similar your interests are with the goals and values of your employer.

Of course there are ‘weak’ career identities too. This is when you feel like you don’t have a great answer to the question “what do I do?” or, you don’t like the answer.

Don’t worry if that’s you. The important thing to remember in all of this is that your career identity is well-balanced — it’s not the ONLY way you define your personal identity, but it’s strong enough to provide a clear answer to the question “what do I do?”.

Say this with me: My career identity is not the same thing as my personal identity. Before we go any further — we need to underline something. Your career identity is not who you are

For some folks, a strong career identity can be an important pillar of their personal identity and how they answer the question “who am I?”, but it should never be the entire answer to that question.

Remember that your career identity doesn’t exist in a vacuum and often changes with your situation. So don’t build your house on the shifting sand of a career identity, However, if you haven’t already, take a moment to think about your answer to the question “what do I do?”

Answering this question can often be helpful in several ways — let’s talk about some of them.

Why should you take a moment to stop and think about your career identity?

1. An outdated career identity could be holding you back.

Our career decisions are often the result of a complicated mix of irrational and rational thoughts.

Although I usually put myself in the ‘rational decisions are better’ camp — it’s hard to deny how natural it is to make career decisions on gut instinct. Let’s face it, our careers are messy and complicated, so we rely on our gut to help simplify and clarify things when we don’t have enough time or information to make completely rational decisions.

But, taking the time to form an up-to-date career identity based on our current situation provides some much needed context that can help us avoid the knee-jerk reactions and wrong thinking that stops us in our tracks.

For instance, maybe you’re considering a career pivot, but as soon as you start thinking about what to do next, that little voice in your head chimes in with “But, I’ve always been a teacher, what else would I do?” Or, “I’ve always thought I would be a doctor! How can I prepare for something else at this point in my career?”

Those outdated career identities could be supplying wrong thoughts that are stopping you from making a career decision because you haven’t bothered to picture what your next career identity might look like.

Letting go of an old career identity and starting to embrace a new one can help you actually make concrete decisions about the next right steps to take, whether that’s learning a new skill, networking in a new community, or applying for jobs that are outside the norm.

2. Career identities can help us stay nimble and embrace change.

One thing was universally true in 2020, and probably will be true just as much in 2021, we’ve all had to embrace change.

Change can be exhausting, but how well you embrace it can often determine whether you achieve your goals or stay resilient to setbacks and challenges. Fortunately, a well-articulated career identity can help you stay motivated by invoking a hardwired need to be consistent in thought and actions.

Workplace scientists call this need for consistency ‘sensemaking’ and define it as the innate desire to behave in a way that reflects our identity.

Career identities also motivate us by being connected to a larger group, such as a profession, a trade association, or a union. We stay motivated when we act in ways that help us develop ourselves as “true examples” of identifying as a group member.

So, what do these two motivating forces mean? Right now, take a moment and write out your career identity as best you can.

Sensemaking can spur you to adapt to change that helps you stay in line with this stated identity — adapting to change is an important attitude and skill to have now more than ever. Having a shared group identity that’s aligned with your career identity can subtly influence you towards more personal development, networking, and job performance that helps you contribute as part of the group. Of course, more development, networking, and working at a high level are tools that can help you take the next step in your career.

3. A well-balanced career identity can bolster your personal well-being and mental health.

If you’ve made it this far and thought “I know how to answer the question ‘what do I do?,’ that’s easy!” be warned. Having too strong of a career identity can make your identity one-dimensional and fragile as a result.

Having a multi-faceted career identity that sits too close to your personal identity can hurt your personal well-being and mental health when your military duty ends, you hit retirement, or you decide to sell or close the business.

In other words, when your strong career identity, as you’ve defined it, goes away, what else do you have to stand on? What do you ‘do’ next? (Haynie & Shepher, 2011)

A well-balanced career identity involves not just a personal statement, but also includes your natural strengths, abilities, and interests. It articulates what separates you from others and makes you unique (Ashforth et al., 2008) — for example, I may have a psychology background but I’m unique in applying it towards career development and consulting.

Knowing how your career identity is separate from your personal identity can give you a stronger foundation to rest on when conditions surrounding your career change.

Stay tuned for more posts on career identity

Hopefully I’ve convinced you to stop and think about your career identity — maybe it’s strong and it needs to be diversified to protect your mental health, or maybe it’s weak and you should start working on defining what your career identity is in light of current conditions and where you want to go in the future.

Whatever the case might be, the one thing to remember is that your career identity should be balanced. In other words, it should be built with your current situation and future goals in mind, and not be all consuming of your personal identity.

In the next few posts, I’ll go over how career identities are formed so you can channel and guide yours, as well as what the potential downsides to a career identity are so that you can avoid the landmines. So stay tuned!

In the meantime, how would you define your career identity? Is it strong? What changes would you like to make to your career identity this year?

Photo by Austrian National Library on Unsplash

Originally published at https://www.careerscienceschool.com.